publishers building vertical communities (publishing technology at digital book world 2014)
DESCRIPTION
Publishers see the opportunity to engage more deeply with their audiences, develop new business models, and reduce the marketing costs for selling their content by building online communities of interest for their readers. In the last several years, online communities have been the focus of many development and marketing efforts for publishers across segments. Publishing Technology will share recent results from their survey of academic publishers building online vertical communities. Randy Petway of PT will be joined by trade, professional, and academic publishers to discuss their community-building efforts. They'll talk about both the pitfalls and successes, and how direct engagement with readers is creating new business opportunities and changing their marketing and product launch practices.TRANSCRIPT
Publishers Building Vertical
CommunitiesDigital Book World, January 15 at 2:45 pm
Randy Petway, COO, Advance Division
Defining Online Communities
What is an online community?
“A publisher-owned website/platform that offers a
common interest around which the community is
themed, with interactive communication between the
organization and community members and between
the members themselves.”
Context for academic publishers
Why investigate online communities?
PCG’s research builds from an earlier study conducted
with Bowker Market Research
Online survey of 15 questions primarily geared toward
academic publishers
Background and Methodology
What does research address?
Questions the research is looking to answer:
How many publishers currently have online communities?
Reasons for development of online communities?
Measurable benefits achieved from online communities
Opportunities for growth of online communities
Key Findings – Current Market
21%
10%
8%
15%
47%
1-2 communities
3-4 communities
5-6 communities
7 or more communities
None
Key Findings – The Motivation
Top 4 reasons to develop online communities:
40% Increasing direct relationships with end users
40% Increasing audience engagement (social networking)
35% Increased content usage
35% Increasing knowledge and understanding of the reader
Top 3 reported benefits of online communities:
37% Generated increased knowledge and understanding
of the end user
37% Developed direct relationships with readers
32% Serves as a platform to increase content usage
Direct Feedback:
“Our online community capabilities are helping committees and special interest groups to collaborate.”
“Growth of audience engagement but not sales.”
Key Findings – The Benefits
Key Findings – Current Success & Future Opportunity
About 50% of publishers believe online communities have
been successful in achieving the company’s goals
Nearly 80% of all publishers view online communities as
an area of growth for their company and the publishing
sector as a whole
Early 2013 study showed that 84% of all publisher
respondents think their investment in online communities
will increase over the next two years
Summary
Online communities are on the up
Primarily focused on relationship building with end users
Many publishers are still experimenting with online
community strategies
Conclusions
Publishers see online communities as:
a way of getting closer to their readers
a way of becoming more customer focused
a way to gain understanding of what audiences want (access to metrics)
a way to make to their content go further
a way to support marketing efforts, not generating direct sales